Birth of the Demonic Sword

Elder Julia and First Prince remained alone on the battlefield. The two of them stared at each other for a while before resuming their offensive.

First Prince knew about his opponent's individuality. Elder Julia shared similar features with Dreaming Demon, but her influence affected a different aspect of the world.

Dreaming Demon forced her will in the matter. She affected the laws of both world and living beings without caring for their structure.

Elder Julia's focused on her aura instead. She could make it invisible to the enemy's mind and tricky to deal with. Also, she preferred to use simple attacks rather than complex constructs.

Her individuality wasn't as broad as Dreaming Demon's, but that allowed her to gain power faster. Her more straightforward path was one reason she had advanced to the sixth rank before the Demon.

First Prince had a hard time keeping track of Elder Julia's offensive. She didn't rely on schemes or plans. It was in her nature to pair an imponent display of power to insidious slashes.

Elder Julia hesitated to face the Royal too. The fact that he had relied on inscribed items made the situation far more complicated than she expected.

First Prince was by no means weak. He was weaker than Second Prince, but he was still more potent of many new powerhouses.

Elder Julia was the same, but she lacked such powerful inscribed items. She didn't even go to Shandal's separate dimension, so she lacked a divine weapon that could bring her prowess to the next level.

First Prince and Elder Julia's levels were similar, but the inscribed items were a vital variable that she couldn't ignore nor overcome with her methods.

The Royal summoned a series of fiery snakes once he decided that it was time to resume the battle. Elder Julia answered with a sea of wind slashes that clashed with the flames spewed by the creatures.

Many of the slashes crumbled as the flames engulfed them and flew toward Elder Julia. However, a dangerous sensation suddenly surged inside First Prince's mind and forced him to explode into a sea of flames.

Two massive slashes divided his array of fiery snakes into four parts. They created a cross-like fissure in the sky that absorbed the flames gathered in the environment.

Only a few fiery trails escaped the void's suction force, and they condensed at some distance in the sky to reform First Prince's body.

First Prince didn't have any time to relax since a series of wind-spears materialized around him and converged in his position. The Royal had to explode into a sea of flames again to dodge that attack, but something similar happened once he reappeared.

Elder Julia wasn't giving her opponent any time to breathe. Her consciousness covered the sky, allowing her to cast precise spells that shot toward First Prince as soon as he reappeared.

Moreover, she used her hiding skills often. Many of her tricky attacks arrived after the Royal blocked the flashy ones.

First Prince had to deal with a myriad of both visible and invisible wind-weapons. Countless slashes often filled his vision, and the Elder always forced him to rely on the sea of flames to escape her offensive.

Elder Julia couldn't match First Prince's inscribed items. So, she wouldn't give him time to use them!

The Royal never suffered an injury during those oppressive exchanges, but his energy reserves depleted at high speed to dodge the relentless offensive.

The visible attacks weren't a problem, but he couldn't cast the most suitable spells for the invisible ones since his opponent always managed to catch him by surprise.

His consumption of "Breath" and mental energy would be far lower if he could identify the type of attack in time. Still, Elder Julia's individuality made that impossible.

Determination appeared on First Prince's eyes as that situation continued for an entire hour. He would lose if he didn't do anything to change the trend of the battle, but he didn't have any safe option at hand.

Golden runes lit up on his skin once her reformed in the sky. Slashes, swords, arrows, and spears of various shapes appeared around him and converged in his position, but he didn't rely on his sea of flames at that time.

First Prince jumped toward the side with the least number of wind-weapons and summoned a series of snakes to endure the blow. The blades and slashes cut his defenses and dug in his muscles, but he didn't reveal any fear at those wounds.

The blood that came out of his injuries took fire before the other weapons could reach him. Dense flames went out of his body and formed the shape of a gigantic eight-armed titan that swung its limbs around him.

Elder Julia saw her spells vanish under the titan's rage, but her problems didn't end there. Every time the fiery creature swung its arms, massive fireballs would fly out of them and destroy everything in their path.

Gales made of sharp slashes clashed with the fireballs aiming for her, but Elder Julia had to perform evasive maneuvers to dodge those chaotic attacks nonetheless.

The wind slashes weren't dense enough to stop the fireballs. They could only slow them down and give Elder Julia time to dodge the offensive.

Golden runes shone in a spot behind her while she retreated. The eight-armed titan disappeared from its previous location and reformed behind Elder Julia, taking her by surprise.

The titan clasped its hands on her figure, and the audience held their breath when they saw that nothing came out of the fire. It was as if Elder Julia had died on the spot.

Nevertheless, the most experienced cultivators among the spectators noticed how no ashes came out when the titan opened its hands.

First Prince looked around him as golden runes lit up on his skin again. He was ready to launch another instant teleportation as soon as he found his opponent.

Elder Julia reappeared in a corner of the battlefield. She seemed unharmed and with her robe still intact. Yet, her expression revealed how unhappy she was about that situation.

Her battle prowess was enough to suppress First Prince, but the difference in inscribed items ultimately tilted the scales of the battle against her.

Truth be told, First Prince had shown great resolve in charging toward the wind-slashes and weapons to escape from the negative trend where Elder Julia was forcing him to stay.

The Royal had proven that he wasn't only a spoiled cultivator who had managed to reach the sixth rank because of his Father's backing. He had the determination to stand among powerhouses without any shame.

"I surrender," Elder Julia said when she saw the golden light radiated by First Prince's skin.

She couldn't handle those teleports. She had survived the first attack because she had created a copy of herself during the battle. Still, her cover was now gone.

The region went to the Elbas family, but the Hive didn't mind that outcome. First of all, King Elbas had recognized Elder Julia's prowess and had agreed to bring her on the journey.

Moreover, that land had initially belonged to the Council, so the Hive didn't suffer any loss.

Almost all the Hive's new powerhouses had qualified themselves for the mission at the center of the plane. Only Skully remained among the forces in the sixth rank who had yet to earn King Elbas' recognition.

Yet, she didn't want to return to the sea of magma. She preferred to remain on the surface and handle the hybrids rather than returning to the place that had kept her prisoner for more than one hundred thousand years.

By the time the fourth group battle ended, the party for King Elbas' mission already had a decent number of experts. Five came from the Hive, four from the Elbas family, two from the Council, and only one from the Shandal Empire.

There were still battles to fight, but every organization learnt to recognize the best assets currently living among them. The twelve of them were elites, even among powerhouses.